133 Molesworth Street
PO Box 5013
Wel ington 6140
New Zealand
T+64 4 496 2000
5 June 2020
Debbie Love
By email:
[FYI request #12806 email]
Ref:
H202003117
Dear Ms Love
Response to your request for official information
Thank you for your request of 7 May 2020 under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act)
for:
“OIA - MoH advice given to GPs regarding diagnosis of stress during covid19
What advice has been given to GPs in relation to diagnosing stress during covid?
And why?
What advice has been given to GPs around not to give medical certificates for stress
as a result of covid? And why?
Why are GPs being advised to make stress an issue between employers and
employees?
What makes the government experts on what constitutes "stress"? Is this not the
expertise of the medical profession?
Is this to manipulate data by avoiding acknowledging that the lockdown is the
stressor?.”
General Practitioners (GPs), practice nurses and other health professionals are trained to
talk with people about stress and distress. The Ministry of Health (the Ministry) expects that
these health professionals are doing this as part of their usual practice during lockdown and
throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is no formal advice on how to do this in relation to lockdown, we expect them to use
their clinical skil s and knowledge to assess and help manage people’s distress. As such,
your request is refused under section 18(g) of the Act, as the information requested is not
held by the Ministry and we have no grounds to be believe it is held by another agency
subject to the Act.
The Ministry has made a number of new resources available to help people manage their
mental health and wellbeing, both throughout lockdown and over the next few months. We
are working to ensure that GPs and other frontline health staf are aware of these resources
so that the people who need them are aware of them. These can be found at the following
link:
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-
coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-general-public/covid-19-mental-health-and-wellbeing-
resources
You have the right, under section 28 of the Act, to ask the Ombudsman to review any
decisions made in response to your request.
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the
Ministry website.
Yours sincerely
Robyn Shearer
Deputy Director General
Mental Health and Addiction